In order to get people’s respect and get noticed, this mother brazenly walks out of the back door of an Argos store. As a Glaswegian I was relieved of course.

There was more. After being yanked away by a hooded looter, the son of an evangelist minister ‘stole from supermarket’, admitted burglary by looting a £7.49 bottle of wine, and left stupid messages on Facebook.

Trying to gouge out a policeman’s eyes, the teenager then blamed the police for his crimes, adding that everything he had worked for is destroyed.

But victims will be given the chance to speak out, clean up in an orange jumpsuit, sweep scum off our streets, and be rightly alarmed.

Modern-day Fagins, on the other hand, cannot have people being frightened in their beds, or running into their basement flat with electrical items. It is deplorable behaviour, leading to instant ‘no-go’ areas to tackle mob violence.

At last, though, there is a smell of fresh paint, as well as vicious infighting between politicians and senior policemen. The public is finally seeing proper medicine handed out. Residents cheered police as they carried out the operation!

Some would argue that this all smacks of headline grabbing; others, that the dehumanising epithets flew like bricks through a JD Sports window.

But what matters is that this kind of anarchy is never allowed to happen again.

* Disclaimer: in the interests of full disclosure, I must point out that the photo above was not taken during this month’s disturbances, but some years ago (the date is uncertain) and forms part of Tim Marshall’s 38 Special project, which we have already featured on The London Column. Whilst the young men in Tim’s photo were not looting anything, we have posted some contemporary riot photos on our Facebook page. D.S.